Can I print my own lunchbox decal? If not, who can?

March 30, 2021 12:15 PM

I'd like to print some full colour images, ideally on some kind of transparent hardy sticker material, for sticking on the outside of my son's bentobox. The bentobox is not dishwasher safe anyway, so it doesn't have to be dishwasher safe, but it does have to be waterproof/washable. I have a colour printer. Presumably I need special paper/plastic to print on, right? What kind? Or else who can print it for me (yes, etsy, but WHO on etsy)?

I contacted an etsy seller but it looks like the decal printing process can't really do full-colour images well. It can basically do whole shapes in one colour -- though you can do multiple whole shapes each a different colour, that's not really the same as a regular full colour image.

What about someone who prints bumper stickers? Would bumper sticker material work for this?

Or can I get the right kind of paper /plastic and print them myself? What kind of paper would I need?

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

You'll want to look for printable vinyl sticker paper. There are a few brands on Amazon that are well reviewed.
posted by girlbowler at 12:46 PM on March 30, 2021

Sticker Mule can do this.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:52 PM on March 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

I've never tried this, but I always thought that if i wanted a one-off sticker (and not the bulk purchase required at places like Sticker Mule) I'd just upload it to "sell" on a site like RedBubble and then buy one myself. You do need to own the copyright obviously to do this.
posted by cgg at 12:58 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

You could do this with waterslide decal stock and clearcoat spraypaint, but the painting/drying/de-gassing would take several days.

Otherwise, cafepress would work.
posted by drezdn at 1:47 PM on March 30, 2021

Grafix Rub-Onz with a clearcoat of some sort is very durable, but it is also clear, so you cannot do white unless you have a printer that can print white, or the object you're printing on is white(ish).
posted by jgreco at 1:55 PM on March 30, 2021

There's like a million options, I just picked the first one that met my needs. I recently used makestickers and got a small handful of quality vinyl bumper stickers in the mail in a timely manner.
posted by aniola at 2:28 PM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Nothing you can print on a home inkjet printer will be remotely washable without a varnish layer of some kind (and you would effectively have to spray the entire exterior of the lunchbox), and most home inks are going fade rapidly in any event. I would ask at a local print shop or skip directly to a print-on-demand site like the one aniola linked to.
posted by wreckingball at 2:38 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've ordered quite a few stickers from Sticker Ninja for my business and can highly recommend. They suggest if you only want a few stickers (I think about 10 stickers min.) to buy thru the custom samples. The stickers I got (die cut) where of my paintings and in full color. The stickers while probably not recommended have been put thru the dishwasher more than a few times on my water bottle and still staying strong.
posted by ljesse at 9:43 AM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]